Disclaimer: Not mine - they're never mine.

Author's Note: Last chapter, woo hoo. This story, as everyone's heard by now, was written for my sister Patty, and I do hope she's enjoyed it. The ending of this chapter, when they find their new "hangout" was an idea of my other sister, Mary, and I. I think the idea sounded much cooler in our heads than I could get down on paper, but oh well, it's a little ironic twist I hope you enjoy. Oh, one more thing - I did have to add some romantic involvings between Spot and Race, it just didn't seem right not to lol. So anyway, this has been an experience for me - I'm not used to writing anything quite so, I dunno, light hearted as this. My stories tend to be rather depressing lol, so I hope that you liked this. And if you did, please give me some feedback, and I might write more stories like this in the future. Thanks.

Piling into Blink's truck was quite an affair. Jack got shotgun, Spot volunteered to sit on Race's lap in the cab, and I got the seat beside them. Mush squeezed in next to me behind Jack, and David got kicked into the bed of the truck.

"This is really unfair guys," he was saying, "Why doesn't Shawn have to sit outside the truck?"

Spot grinned, "'Cause Race wants me on his lap 'a course."

David looked at Race pointedly, clearly asking for him to protest. But Race just shrugged casually, "He owes me some obscene sexual favors for a poker game he lost to me last week."

Spot smiled, "What can I say? I'm poor – sex is all I've got."

David rolled his eyes and climbed into the back of the truck looking thoroughly disgusted. I was forced to watch him and his sad puppy eyes through the window the whole trip.

Blink immediately turned up some very loud, very annoying rap music when we pulled out of the parking lot. Jack feigned pain, "My ears!" he cried, "They're bleeding!"

Blink punched him in the arm, "You don't know what you're talkin' about. This is the only good music."

I made out some lyrics about "shaking it baby girl" and a few drug references before Jack couldn't stand it anymore. He put on a rock station, and everyone settled back. I seemed to be the only one who didn't know where we were going.

"I'm sorry," Mush smiled at me when Blink took a corner too fast and he almost ended up in my lap. I shook my head that it was fine, but Mush tried to scoot over as far as he could to give me the most room possible.

On the other side of me, Race was sitting with Spot straddling him. Every once in a while Spot would shift himself to be closer to the boy, or lean down and put his head on Race's shoulder, sucking his neck in a very loud, very noticeable way.

Race hadn't said anything about his sexuality, but then again, I hadn't asked. And as he was clearly enjoying Spot's antics, I figured I knew the answer. Obviously Race hadn't been kidding about the sexual favors…

"C'mon guys," Blink said, glancing at them in the rearview mirror. "I really don't need you staining my backseat again, especially since you're not the only ones back there this time."

Jack glanced in the rearview mirror too, and I caught his eyes with a confused glance. He laughed, "They always do this," he turned around and told me. "Race doesn't advertise his sexuality like Spot – he's bi – but the two of them are always screwing around."

"Hey Jacky-boy," Spot said (muffled against Race's neck), "Why doncha keep ya nose outta othah people's business?"

Race chuckled, "Don't knock it till you've tried it." They went on that way for the rest of the ride and I just tried to keep my eyes on anything else.

Finally we pulled up in a gas station well outside of town. Jack made to get out, but Spot untangled himself from Race and they hopped out first. "We'll go," Spot said. "Anyhow, Skittery likes me best," he added with a wink.

I watched them saunter up to the doors, Spot reached down at one point and grabbed Race's ass. Race stuck out a foot and Spot tripped and nearly fell on his face. But the boy was good humored about it, laughing hard and following behind Race anyway. I decided I enjoyed watching them. Clearly they were nothing exclusive – not after I'd seen Spot with that other boy on the couch and Race seemed so cool about it – but they did like each other. They seemed a nice match, too, and they made me laugh.

We could see through the gas station's windows and we all watched as the boy behind the counter raised his palms defensively, clearly telling Spot and Race something they did not want to hear. But Spot hopped up on the counter and reached up to push the security camera away. He then proceeded to take Skittery's face in his hands and smash their lips together. Again I looked away, but when I looked back a few minutes later, Skittery was ringing something up for the other two boys, looking intensely guilty with a blush that reached all the way to his ears.

Spot and Race came back with a thirty pack of beer and threw it in the back with David. They climbed inside the truck and Jack asked, "Ya didn't have any trouble, did ya?"

Spot shrugged, "Da bum said he got caught last time and was gonna get fired if dey found him sellin' anymore tah anyone underaged."

Blink laughed, "Yeah, and we all saw how quickly you changed his mind."

"Dat?" Spot asked, "Dat wasn't what changed his mind. Just a preview of what he'd get later if he cooperated."

Jack chuckled to himself, "Spot, you're such a slut …"

Spot grinned ear to ear, "Why thank you, Jacky-boy."

"Anyhow," Race added, "He isn't a slut, he's thee slut." And then Race pulled Spot into a kiss, and no one heard a word from them for the rest of the drive.

About ten minutes later they pulled up on the side of the road next to a huge park. I had no idea where we were, but the boys all tumbled out of the car minutes later. I followed silently. Blink grabbed the beer and they trudged far enough into the trees of the park so that they wouldn't be seen from the street.

Jack dusted off a few fallen logs for them to sit on. "Just as good a place as any," he said.

Blink shrugged, "Well since the cops trashed our last hang out, I guess it'll have to do."

David was looking as if everywhere he turned his eyes was far too dirty for him to actually sit. But the other boys settled in easily.

Jack cracked open a beer, tossing one to Blink, Race, and Spot. He offered me one, but I turned him down.

"Aw c'mon," he whined, "You're not gonna be boring like these two, huh?" he motioned to Mush and David.

"I'll have one," I compromised, "But I'm sure my dad wouldn't appreciate me coming home drunk my first night at a new school."

Jack laughed, "Fair enough."

I took the drink Jack offered me, grinning when his fingers brushed mine.

David was looking around the surrounding trees with large, sad, brown eyes. I could tell he was not happy with our choice of location, but he would get over it, just as he seemed to get over everything else given time. "Will ya give it a rest, Dave? We can all tell ya ain't happy. So quit with the puppy dog eyes already," Spot said, annoyed.

David huffed and kept his eyes on the dirt at his feet.

An hour or two later – I took more than just the one beer Jack offered and wasn't quite sure by this point – the boys began to get restless. Jack stood up to stretch his legs and called for Davey to come with him for a walk. David agreed, clearly the most fond of Jack out of all the boys. So I watched him go sadly and Blink called, "Don't get lost!" with a sarcastic chuckle.

Spot was seated on his log, knees set far enough apart so that Race, who was sitting on the ground, could lean back in between them, resting against Spot comfortably. With alcohol, Spot seemed to have abandoned his obscene behavior, and was instead playing lazily with Race's hair in an adorably sentimental gesture. Race was smiling serenely.

Blink was downing another beer in a few gulps, and Mush was watching him with a disapproving look on his face. "Blink, you really should slow down, you're gonna make yourself sick."

Blink clapped Mush on the back good naturedly. "That's why I got you to look after me, huh, Mushee?"

Mush smiled and nodded resignedly. Just then Jack ran back up with Dave. "Hey you guys," he said through heavy breaths. "You gotta come and see this. Me and Dave found this place – looks like it coulda been something like Central Park at one time. There's all these statues an' shit, but they're all overgrown now. But they're super cool."

The rest of the boys got up. I watched Race put his arm around Spot's waist casually, and realized the two must have been … whatever they were … for a long time, because the ease and natural way with which they touched each other was evident to anyone watching. We all followed obediently. By now the evening was turning quickly into early morning, and we were all pretty tired.

When we finally came upon what Jack had been ranting about, none of us were disappointed. There were all kinds of statues and things, all ancient looking now and overgrown with weeds.

"Props Cowboy," Spot chuckled, "Dis ain't half bad."

Race nodded his agreement. "I like it – it's got a mysterious sort of appeal. Let's make this our hangout from now on."

The rest of the boys nodded their agreement – all wandering around to take in the sights of the stone figures. Blink laughed suddenly from a few yards away. "What the hell is this?" he asked.

We all ran over to find him pointing at a statue of a young boy. The boy wore tattered shoes, a vest, and a cap. He had a satchel slung over his shoulder, and in the satchel were newspapers. The statue was deteriorating faster than the ones around it, but the stone still held strong enough for us to make out what it was.

"It's a newsboy," David said knowledgably, "A newsie."

I watched the others try the strange word on their tongues and chuckle. Then Blink laughed out loud. "Looks like a fag to me." Then he cast a worried face in Spot's direction. "No offense."

Spot shrugged good-naturedly, his hand resting in Race's back pocket. But Race was laughing to himself. Without warning he hopped on top of the base of the statue, posed as the stone boy was, with one arm above his head, the other pulling a paper from his imaginary satchel. "Extra, Extra!" he called, "Read all about it!"

We all laughed and David bent down to read the inscription on the base of the statue. "'When you've got a hundred voices singin', Who can hear a lousy whistle blow?' –A tribute to the newsboys' strike of 1899.'"

Jack frowned and David shrugged. "Never heard of it," he said, and we all let it drop, shaking our heads at the odd statue.

Race did a few more impressions of the so-called "newsies" and then we all decided it was best if we headed home. "But same time, same place next week," Jack assured us.

On the way home, Spot and Race let David sit inside the truck, and they took the bed, lying down together and watching the sky above them as they sped down the highway. When the boys dropped me off, Jack walked me to the door. He gave me a hug and a quick peck on the cheek and I swooned. "Night, Taylor," he said with a wide smile. I watched him walk back to the car, knowing I was head over heels.

Mush and David both waved out their windows at me, Blink tapped the horn, and Race and Spot leaned around the cab of the truck. Spot gave me a crooked grin – his hair was all messed up and his shirt buttons were done up wrong – I didn't want to think of what he and Race had been doing in the back of that truck. Race winked at me and called, "Buenas Noches," with a flawless Spanish accent, before Spot pulled him back down to engage in whatever activity I had interrupted with my departure.

I grinned to them all, and shut the front door behind me. Leaning against it, I realized that maybe New York wouldn't be so bad. Especially since my very first day at the new school was already the best day of my life...